Illinois Review: Gov. Mitch Daniels: Illinois tax hikes good for Indiana

Illinois Review: Gov. Mitch Daniels: Illinois tax hikes good for Indiana:
That's because Daniels is the Governor of Indiana. If the Democrats in Springfield raise the personal income tax here in Illinois by 75% (from a flat rate of 3% to 5.25% of income, with practically no deductions or exemptions), and if they raise the corporate income tax by 75% as well (from 4.8% to 8.4%), businesses will relocate to Indiana. This state is run by a corrupt political machine that is arrogant and cynical beyond belief. They are doing this after the election, and before the new legislature is seated. They figure that in two years enough "voters" (and I use the word with some doubt as to whether it really applies) will forget that the Democrats did this. Maybe they are right.

Of course, something has to be done to raise revenues and cut spending because Illinois is insolvent. But the lack of a two-party system here is the main problem. A tax increase was in the cards. You can count on the Democrats for that, and they waited until the election was over to do it so they could keep their control of the legislature. But what about budget-cutting? That's where some Republican influence would make a difference. We need both. Instead the Democrats want to increase the money being shoveled into the maw of the teachers' unions, and because they control the entire state, that's what we will get: more taxes, more spending, and empty promises of budget-cutting to come.

Banks lose key foreclosure ruling in top Massachusetts court | Reuters

Banks lose key foreclosure ruling in top Massachusetts court | Reuters:
In a decision that may slow foreclosures nationwide, Massachusetts' highest court voided the seizure of two homes by Wells Fargo & Co and US Bancorp after the banks failed to show they held the mortgages at the time they foreclosed.
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I am nearing the end of a three month effort to refinance my house. The banks and title companies are over-compensating for their slovenly ways during the housing bubble. Now you have to prove everything about yourself and your house beyond any possible or imaginary doubt. But when they want to foreclose, and they have to produce proof that they own the house, why, then things are different. Suddenly anything goes.

Vegas HOA takes Floyd Mayweather to court

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) — Unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather has been threatening employees of the homeowners association in the development where he lives, according to officials who have gone to court to stop him.

A complaint by Southern Highlands Estates in Clark District Court seeks $10,000 in damages and an injunction to limit contact between Mayweather and employees of the gated community south of the glitzy Las Vegas Strip.

Mayweather, 33, already faces misdemeanor battery charges from a December 16 incident in which he allegedly poked a security guard in the face outside his home over complaints about parking.

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Read story here.

Homeowner tells HOA: You're messing with the wrong Marine

Marine battles homeowners association over flag pole

Merola said he went through the proper channels to ask for permission to put up a 20-foot flag pole, but permission was denied. The HOA told him he was welcome to attach a small flag pole to his house.

An attorney representing the Lakeland Village Community Association said homeowners are encouraged to display American flags, if they want to, but that freestanding flag poles are just not allowed.

Merola said the homeowners association is going too far and has hired his own lawyers.

"Being a marine, this is a battle I’m willing to fight," Merola said.
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UPDATE 1/7/11:

Group plans to take on HOAs over flags

Merola's battle with his HOA could be the last of its kind. A group in Austin tired of hearing about these flag flaps is introducing a flag display bill in the upcoming Texas legislature, stipulating that HOAs cannot prohibit flags on free standing poles.

"From experience in dealing with homeowner associations, if it's not in black and white and it says you must permit or you may not prohibit, then they won't do it," said John Stratton, attorney for American Radio Relay League.

Who you gonna call? HOA Busters!

Are you fed up with your homeowner association?

Feel you're being targeted and fined by people overstepping their bounds and you have little to no recourse?

Homeowners who want to fight back against their HOA's have a new coach in their corner.

It's a group called HOA Busters and they're gearing up for battle in the wake of a Contact 13 investigation.
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The HOA inmates are revolting in Las Vegas. Get the scoop on HOA Busters in this story from KNTV Las Vegas 13 Action News.

GOP gets cold feet on ending bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - Yahoo! News

GOP gets cold feet on ending bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - Yahoo! News
With the housing market getting soft(er) yet again, it looks like continued government support of Fannie and Freddie will continue at least another year.

Housing Distress Pits Neighbor Against Neighbor - WSJ.com

Housing Distress Pits Neighbor Against Neighbor - WSJ.com
Yes, it certainly does.

Contact 13 Investigates: HOA Hall of Shame

Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears takes us down that hall, so you can decide whether it's shame on the homeowners or shame on the HOAs. "It's a sickness. It's a cancer on our society," says self-appointed homeowner advocate Jonathan Friedrich.

The concept of an HOA--keeping property values up and neighborhoods looking nice--is a good one, but the reality can be a nightmare. "Extremely, extremely bad," sighs frustrated homeowner Brigitte Porter.

And for Dr. Robin Huhn, "It has tainted the home for me." "It almost becomes like a Gestapo where everybody's spying on everybody else," adds Friedrich.
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13 Action News of Las Vegas reports on the goings on in private local government that often resemble something out of Peyton Place and Lord of the Flies.

American English Dialects

American English Dialects:

Check this out. It is amazing.

HOA Drives Down Property Values | RumorMiller

HOA Drives Down Property Values | RumorMiller
An interesting case in point...

The Fallacy of a Pain-Free Path to a Healthy Housing Market - Economic Letter, December 2010 - FRB Dallas

The Fallacy of a Pain-Free Path to a Healthy Housing Market - Economic Letter, December 2010 - FRB Dallas: "The Fallacy of a Pain-Free Path to a Healthy Housing Market"

"As gauged by an aggregate of housing indexes dating to 1890, real home prices rose 85 percent to their highest level in August 2006. They have since declined 33 percent, falling short of most predictions for a cumulative correction of at least 40 percent.[1] In fact, home prices still must fall 23 percent if they are to revert to their long-term mean."

What's next for minimalist houses? How about a subdivision of tiny houses in Eastern Oregon? | OregonLive.com

What's next for minimalist houses? How about a subdivision of tiny houses in Eastern Oregon? | OregonLive.com: "Now the 50-year-old builder has come up with an idea that may prove both brilliant and quixotic: a subdivision for 50 to 100 pint-sized homes geared to folks hurt by the real estate bust, jobless or on fixed incomes. Increasingly, he's approached by people desperate to cut their living expenses, he said."
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Yes, I think an 8 1/2 foot wide house qualifies as tiny.

Arizona lawmaker proposes barring HOA "auto liens," foreclosures to secure fines

A local homeowners association’s management company is pushing state lawmakers to defeat a legislative bill that would make it impossible to foreclose on a home for non-payment of assessment fines.

The Arizona Association of Community Management (AACM), the HOA political arm of Associated Asset Management (AAM), is lobbying the state Legislature to defeat House Bill 2307, sponsored by Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, which is designed to restrict HOAs from foreclosing on a property owner’s home for non-payment of assessment fines using a legal tool called an “auto-lien.”

The auto-lien is a provision in the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs under Arizona real estate law. The CC&R is a document that is signed during the closing of sale of a home and states that a homeowner who buys a home in a deed-restricted property must join an HOA. AAM and AACM are also dues-paying members of the Community Association Institute, a national HOA membership organization that oversees the operations of HOAs.
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This is an ongoing battle in the Grand Canyon State dating back to at least the mid 1990s involving a familiar legislator (Eddie Farnsworth, who argues the bar on HOAs placing automatic liens for fines protects property rights) longtime HOA member rights advocate Pat Haruff and of course the usual wall of opposition from the private local government lobby. Read the story here.

A California Bankruptcy, Dictatorship, and the Guarantee Clause - ProfessorBainbridge.com

A California Bankruptcy, Dictatorship, and the Guarantee Clause - ProfessorBainbridge.com
Great post by Professor Bainbridge.

Lakemoor woman can use toilets as planters - Chicago Breaking News

Lakemoor woman can use toilets as planters - Chicago Breaking News
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Justice prevails in McHenry County, IL.

Why I haven't been posting for the last few weeks

I am sicker than I have ever been in my life. I've been sick since about November 20. I have pertussis, better known as "whooping cough." And yes, I was vaccinated when I was a kid. But I have learned that these vaccinations wear off, so by the time you are in your teens you need a booster. My shot wore off long ago, I never had a booster, and I was hit so hard that I spent two days in the hospital. I am recovering now but recovery from pertussis takes some time.

If you haven't had a pertussis booster shot, my advice is: run, don't walk, to your local medical center and ask for one. This was once practically eradicated and now it's going around. There are outbreaks in Ohio, Illinois, Texas, and California, and perhaps elsewhere.

Believe me--you do not, repeat DO NOT, want to get pertussis. Just take my word for it.

Virginia HOA locked into long term contract with telecom provider; Congressman writes FCC

In a letter dated Tuesday, Dec. 7, U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-10-VA) reached out to Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC, about the informal complaint filed by lawyers on behalf of the 1,117 residents of Southern Walk at Broadlands and its homeowners association. The residents first reached out to Wolf's office in the fall, and have been in communication with him regarding their concerns and their legal efforts since that time.

Wolf's letter states that the concerns of a residents "merit serious consideration" by the commission. "The complaint raises serious concerns about the fairness of a developer committing my constituents to a multi-generational obligation with a pre-selected communications provider," the letter reads.

Leesburg Today has the rest of the story.
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There is a way to avoid these kinds of locked in deals. Developers can build open access fiber networks owned by the homeowners rather than a private vendor. Apparently the developer of the HOA involved here didn't go that route -- most likely because there was more money for the developer in having a for profit company provide the service. Another example of why privatizing local government is poor public policy.

Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of a Looming Crisis

Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of a Looming Crisis

Municipal bankruptcies or defaults have been extremely rare — no state has defaulted since the Great Depression, and only a handful of cities have declared bankruptcy or are considering doing so.

But the finances of some state and local governments are so distressed that some analysts say they are reminded of the run-up to the subprime mortgage meltdown or of the debt crisis hitting nations in Europe.

Analysts fear that at some point — no one knows when — investors could balk at lending to the weakest states, setting off a crisis that could spread to the stronger ones, much as the turmoil in Europe has spread from country to country.
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Governments in Europe and at all levels in the U.S. are reeling in red ink. While economic observers note consumer confidence and retail spending are up, reports like these as well as continued high unemployment demonstrate the ongoing powerful gravitational drag exerted by the implosion of the real estate bubble into a massive financial black hole in 2008.

First responders delayed by padlocked gates of Privatopian enclave

HOUSTON – A group of northeast Houston residents say they are holding a rally to protest the mismanagement of their neighborhood’s homeowners association.

The resident’s main concern is the locks that were placed on the subdivision’s gates that possibly created a delay for first responders.

Blouis Gipson, who recently lost his wife to a heart attack, said he wonders what would have happened if the Pine Village North subdivision had a different lock on the gates.

“I tried CPR and I called 911 immediately,” said Gipson.

But help was held up because the homeowners association had the gate chained shut with a lock, he said. A report from the fire department said the crew had to cut the lock off of the gate.

“By the time EMS got here, she had died,” said Gipson

There was a fire a few months ago that destroyed several town homes and the fire department was locked out, the residents said.
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Rest of the story here.

Sovereign Privatopia: Arizona HOAs claim jurisdiction over public streets

Homeowners and HOA Headaches

State Representative Nancy Barto describes HOAs as quasi-governments with deep pockets, lots of authority and little oversight. She tried to pass a bill to clarify who owns public streets: cities or HOAs.

"A lot of HOAs are run very well. This is not about most HOAs. This is about many HOAs," says Barto. "It becomes very evident that there's not enough oversight whenever there's a dispute, because homeowners have nowhere to go to solve these problems."

Attorney Scott Carpenter represents 3,000 HOAs and worked against Nancy Barto's bill.

"There is no story or evidence or statistics that I've seen that back up the assertion that associations are using fines for vehicles parked in public streets as a revenue generator," says Carpenter.

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This is one of the most nonsensical circumstances I've read emanating from Privatopia. A bill to determine whether municipalities or HOAs own public streets? Clearly the former; curious minds want to know why the state Legislature would be called upon to resolve that question. And why the munis don't take overreaching HOAs asserting bogus claims of jurisdiction over public rights of way to court and get a judge to order them to butt out.